


Probably Everyone in Cell Block E

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Ocean's (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-06
Updated: 2005-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1633439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some people lack vision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Probably Everyone in Cell Block E

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Alejandra

 

 

**I.**

The club is loud and gaudy and too busy. It's just the sort of place that Rusty loves; Danny rolls his eyes as the bouncer unchains the velvet rope and lets him through. There are people lining up at the window to pay to enter, and Danny slips the girl twenty dollars instead of just gliding on through. He's feeling a bit... rusty, and L.A. isn't his playground anymore. It could be with just a phone call or two, but four years is a long time for anyone, and Danny needs to stretch his muscles. He needs -- he just needs to find the VIP room, but something pulls him towards the bar instead. He's not interested in a drink, but he would know the set of those shoulders anywhere; it's not even about the artfully spiked hair or the requisite shiny shirt. Something in Danny's stomach unclenches just being near Rusty again. Rusty's body language has always spoken loudly to Danny. It shouts and argues and sulks and does all the things that Rusty never seems to do. Danny can read it like the blueprints of a casino, and it's saying a lot right now -- even more than the glass Rusty is rolling against his forehead between sips.

**II.**

Danny can't remember the last time he surprised Rusty. Of course, he can't remember the last time Rusty was so openly emotional either, especially in a room full of strangers. It's not that Rusty looks upset or shocked or even amused; his face is as blank as a sheet of white paper and his mouth is set in a thin line, without the natural curl upwards at the ends. Rusty _looks_ as though he's never seen Danny in his life, but he's trying too hard to keep himself in check, and you can tell a lot about a person by what they try to hide.

Danny's always considered Rusty the emotional one, because Danny's always been able to read him so well, but there's a moment when the cards are being dealt that Danny's not sure if Rusty's happy to see him at all. It's not that he lacks vision -- he's just not sure if he likes what he's seeing.

**III.**

Rusty drives like he runs his cons -- a little too fast, a little too recklessly, but with an underlying tension that he uses to keep control. He slips his car into an available the parking space behind Frank & Musso's as though he does it three times a day. It's all very smooth and seamless. It's very Rusty. Except that Danny knows where the seams are, and when he slips his arm off the seat he lets his fingers brush against the shoulder of Rusty's jacket.

Rusty looks as though he's as relaxed as anybody could be, but he slams his door a little too hard when he gets out the car, and the line of his back is too straight. He's still angry about the Incan mask thing -- he's still angry about the Tess thing. He's still hurt and open.

Right now, he's a perfect mark.

**IV.**

Danny spins the blueprints in his hands the same way Rusty plays with his food when there's something on his mind, and the elevator clanks to a halt when Rusty pushes the STOP button.

"You still haven't told me why we're doing this," Rusty says, reaching out and pulling the blueprints away. Danny's hands fall to his sides gracefully instead of reaching out and taking back what belongs to him.

"I thought you were tired of cold-decking Teen Beat cover boys," he smirks.

"Even a broken watch is right twice a day," Rusty points out, spinning the blueprints with his left hand.

Danny cocks his head to the side. The fluorescent lighting doesn't do anyone any favors, even Rusty, and there are lines around his eyes that weren't there before Danny went away. "Are you calling me a broken watch?" he asks mockingly. "Are you going to trade me in for a newer model?"

"I can't," Rusty says with a sigh. "Nobody else will take you."

Danny's still smirking when Rusty leans forward and kisses him on the mouth. It's not a pretty kiss or a passionate one -- instead it's hard and quick. It's more like being marked than being kissed, and Danny's eyes are open the entire time, which is how he knows that Rusty doesn't shut his eyes either.

Rusty pulls back just as quickly as he darted forward, and he punches the STOP button to fill the silence. Danny would be lying if he said he saw that coming -- he didn't think Rusty would crack until they got back to the hotel.

**V.**

The slope of Rusty's shoulders said that they needed one more. The tilt of his head and the way he rested its weight on his hands showed how tired he was; that he was stressed and overworked and _that's_ why Danny goes to Chicago. For Rusty. And the minute he clocks Linus Caldwell he knows it's mistake. He's too new and green. He's like a shiny new watch, and Rusty has always been way too fond of shiny toys.

**VI.**

Danny _told_ Rusty they were in Vegas because he lost something. Someone. He said he didn't want to be the one who made the choice. He knows what he said, because he said it and they're having the conversation right now, but clearly they're not talking about the same thing. Danny's not reading Rusty's body, because he's too busy he's listening to the words coming out of Rusty's mouth, and Rusty's always been the one to say you're supposed to leave emotion at the door, but his eyes are bright and he's licking his lips and doing that twitching tell, which he swears he doesn't even have.

And Danny -- he's not sure what he is, but the proof is in the con. If Rusty thinks they're in Vegas for Tess, then fine, Danny will go play along. He will go and see his ex-wife, not because he wants to, because now he has to -- but at no time has Danny ever said he was there for Tess.

**VII.**

It's important to note that Danny did love Tess. Maybe he didn't love her the best or as much as she wanted, but he thought he loved her enough; he genuinely wanted to make a life with her if only to give himself a chance to go straight. If only to try and force Rusty to go straight too. Danny wasn't being charitable when he married Tess. He's never been the philanthropic kind. He liked that she called him on his shit - like Rusty did - and he liked that she was brash and bright. She liked shiny things - like Rusty -- but Danny was never convinced it would last forever.

**VIII.**

Rusty calls Tess _Danny's wife_.

Danny calls Tess his _ex-wife_.

Someone is not paying attention to the con, and bad things always happen when people don't listen to the instructions. That's how they ended up in Belize in the first place.

**IX.**

Rusty tastes of nachos and beer and Oreos, and it's quite possible the nastiest combination that Danny has ever been exposed to in his life. Rusty's got cookie crumbs in the corner of his mouth, and the skin around his jawline is pink and raw before Danny even kisses him. Rusty has stubble burn, and he didn't get it from Danny.

This is not part of the plan.

**X.**

There are some people who can't see the whole con for its individual parts, but Danny is the idea man. It's his _job_ to see the big picture. It's his job to keep everyone else in the dark, but if he loses Rusty to Linus because of this con thirteen million dollars will be cold comfort.

**XI.**

When Danny was in jail, he was a part of Cell Block E, which was where they kept the low-risk felons: the robbers, the thieves and cons and fraudsters. Cell Block A was for the violent criminals, also known as The Crazy Bastards, and Cell Block C was where they kept the old-timers who didn't harm anybody, but would never be let out. The guys in Danny's cellblock were called The Dreamers, because all they ever talked about was when they were getting out. Danny didn't talk about getting out much, but he thought about it a lot. He thought about it even more when he got the divorce papers from Tess, because it was true what Rusty always said that 'people don't change; they get sharp or they get sloppy,' and maybe marriage had made Danny a little sloppy, maybe it really made him believe that he didn't need Rusty quite as much as he does.

The truth of the matter though is that Danny needs Rusty more than he needs Tess or the money and he just didn't see it before. He did lack vision - but he knows better now, and when all this is over and his six to eight months are served, he and Rusty are going to go someplace hot and wet and he's going to show an old con some new tricks.

-end-

 

 

 


End file.
